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... s, social security numbers, and dates of birth to steal refund checks, and withdrew cash from bank accounts and spent thousands of dollars with fake credit cards according to the prosecutor (name not given). The two-year scam was punctuated with shopping sprees where the employee and three others used the credit cards at malls and picked up added cash (from other people taken from bank machines) according to a complaint to the FBI. This case, which was filed in federal court in White Plains, NY. Scammers allegedly used change-of-address cards and personal information taken from the taxpayers to diverge victim checks, credit applications, and other mail to the suspects.
Ivy Johnson, former employee of H&R block, along with LaTasha Edwards-Hamlet, Catherine Pointer, and Charles Griffin all have been charged with mail fraud and other crimes. The scheme began to come apart when the Postal Inspector Richard Tracy found a common fact among 27 people who were working by the fake changes of address. They had all been customers of H&R Block in White Plains where Johnson worked. This case is just one example of the rising incidence of identity theft, which can only be defined as the crime that takes the loss of privacy to technology and can drain away at other people's savings and ruins their credit. Another example of a Supreme Court case dealing with identity theft includes the largest ever identity theft case in the history of the United States (according to yahoo. com headline news).
In this case, three men were charged with stealing credit information from more than 30, 000 people. They took almost all the victims' money out of their accounts and destroyed their credit. According to the U. S. attorney James County stated that the losses were calculated up until now at 2. 7 million dollars. He also stated that it would go up to many more millions and would affect consumers in every state.
The prosecutor of the case stated, "With a few keystrokes, these men essentially picked the pockets of tens of thousands of Americans, and in the process, took their identities, stole their money and swiped their security. " The scheme began to occur about three years ago when Philip Cummings, a help desk worker at Tele data Communications, which is a Long Island based Software Company, sold unidentifiable passwords and codes to enable the downloading of consumer credit reports. Prosecutors of the case stated, "He was supposedly paid at least 30 dollars for each report, and then that information was then passed on to at least 20 other people whom set out to make money of the stolen information. " According to officials, more then 15, 000 credit reports were taken from Experian, a credit history bureau, using the passwords, which belonged to the Ford Motor Credit Corporation. They stated that other firms which had credit reports taken included Washington Mutual Finance Corporation, the Dollar Bank in Cleveland; the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Illinois; and the Personal Finance Company in Frankfort, Indiana. A U.
S. attorney said "this is every American's worst financial nightmare multiplied tens of thousands of times. " Although it is very easy for someone to steal your identity, there are many ways to prevent identity theft. First, destroy all credit cards, and all financial statements; always use secure websites when making purchases over the Internet; don't talk about financial issues using wireless communications; call up your local DMV and request that your private information get protected from disclosure. Don't use your mother's maiden name on your passwords for credit cards. Be cautious of anyone calling to confirm personal information. Thoroughly review all of your bank, credit card, and phone statements for unusual activity.
Don't carry around your social security number. And most-importantly, secure your mail and monitor your credit by asking for credit report once a year and to watch for any unknown purchases. If you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft, there are different things that you could do. The first thing to do is be aware. Watch out for any unusual purchases; being denied a loan you have qualified for; watch when your personal records don't agree with personal records; look out for any unexplained changes in your bank access codes; and look out for any unusual calls regarding your personal or financial information. If you suspect foul play with your credit or feel that something may be wrong, contact your local law enforcement officials to look into it.
Don't hesitate to follow up. If you are a victim of identity theft there are many different steps you can take to make sure that the crime is going to be solved or to make sure that this does not happen again. As with all crimes, report the crime to your local police departments immediately. Call the fraud unit at each of the big three credit bureaus to notify them of what has happened. Do not pay any bills or charges that result from identity theft. Write a victim statement of 100 words or less.
Get copies of your credit reports. Call your credit card issuers to close accounts. Create new secret passwords and PIN numbers. Contact the Social Security Administration and advise them of what has happened.
Contact an attorney to make sure you are not victimized again. Be persistent and follow up. Today, identity theft continues to remain a primary focus of law enforcement. As the crime rate for this offense continues to rapidly grow, law Enforcement officials as well as government representatives continue to target the crime and find ways to stop it. There are many things that officials must consider doing that would help prevent identity theft. For instance, provide a law enforcement response to high tech crime complaints 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Knowledge, resources, and training should be shared among local law enforcement investigate agencies to prosecute Internet crime more effectively. Funding for a computer forensics lab, which will be essential for investigating and prosecuting Internet crimes, should be made available to legislation and should be enacted to help prosecute on-line crime. Finally, sentencing of this crime must also be put into perspective. One third of all identity theft offenders don't even get sent to prison, and those who do, don't even get lengthy terms. Representatives need to come up with legislation that would prosecute and fairly sentence criminals charged with identity theft because this crime surely is a victim's crime. And remember, identity theft could happen to anyone, even to you.
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